“Bad Santa” director Terry Zwigoff stepped forward to say that Harvey and Bob Weinstein asked him not to even consider Mira Sorvino for his 2003 dark comedy.
“I was interested in casting Mira Sorvino in BAD SANTA, but every time I mentioned her over the phone to the Weinsteins, I’d hear a CLICK,” Zwigoff wrote on Twitter. “What type of person just hangs up on you like that?! I guess we all know what type of person now.”
He added, “I’m really sorry Mira.”
https://twitter.com/realzwigoff/status/941864029051428866
A rep for Harvey Weinstein said he “never spoke with Terry regarding casting. That was a Dimension film (Bob Weinstein) and Harvey had nothing to do with it.”
Zwigoff’s statement follows one by Peter Jackson that Harvey and Bob Weinstein shot down Sorvino and Ashley Judd — two actresses who have recently accused Harvey of sexual misconduct and threats to derail their careers if they spoke up — for potential roles in his blockbuster “The Lord of the Rings.”
The film, which was developed at the Weinsteins’ Miramax in the late ’90s, was ultimately produced by New Line — though the Weinsteins maintained executive producer credits on the Oscar-winning trilogy of films.
Judd and Sorvino both responded to Jackson’s original comments on the matter, made to New Zealand’s Stuff, in which he said Weinstein told him the actresses were a “nightmare” to work with.
Sorvino retweeted Stuff’s story, adding: “Just seeing this after I awoke, I burst out crying. There it is, confirmation that Harvey Weinstein derailed my career, something I suspected but was unsure… Thank you Peter Jackson for being honest. I’m just heartsick.”
Judd also retweeted it, saying of Weinstein’s apparent blacklisting of her and Sorvino: “I remember this well.”